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Most infertile patients are hungry for information - and "Look it up on the Internet" is fast becoming the standard prescription for any infertile couple. Medical journals, textbooks, encyclopaedias, research papers, and huge medical databases once available only to doctors are now just a mouse click away. Savvy patients can even learn about a breakthrough before their doctor does, and the internet has given birth to a new group of informed, empowered patients who want to make medical decisions in partnership with their doctors, instead of just blindly following the doctor's advice.
While everyone knows that there's a wealth of medical information on infertility on the Net, why are most patients in India still so reluctant to make use of this? For one, most Indians have become very used to passively follow their doctor's advice. Questions are not encouraged in India - either in the classroom when we are students, or in the doctor's clinic when we become patients. Also, medical jargon can be intimidating, because it is unfamiliar (since many words are derived from the classic languages such as Greek and Latin) and is therefore difficult to follow - so most of us would rather not take the trouble of researching our problem independently.
Many people still prefer to leave everything up to their doctor - after all, that's what you pay him for, isn't it - why confuse yourself with alternatives and options (the "doctor as a highly paid technician" approach). Another problem is that there are still very few sites about infertility in India (most websites are US in origin) with the result that a lot of the information on the Net is irrelevant to Indians.
So how can you use the Internet intelligently to find out more about your medical problem? Let me start with a warning - it is unwise to try to diagnose yourself - don't try to play doctor! Please seek a qualified medical opinion from your own doctor, who can see you, conduct tests if necessary, and diagnose you properly. Once you have a diagnosis, your search for information on the Net can become focussed and productive.
© Dr. Aniruddha Malpani and Dr. Anjali Malpani www.drmalpani.com
Credits: How to Have a Baby: Overcoming Infertility
